THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 


By 
WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN 


FUNK  &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

1914 


PUBLISHERS'  NOTE 

"The  Price  of  a  Soul"  is  an  address 
delivered  by  Mr.  Bryan,  first  at  the 
Northwestern  Law  School  Banquet  in 
Chicago,  then  as  a  Commencement  Ora- 
tion at  the  Peirce  School  in  Philadelphia 
and,  in  1909,  extended  into  a  lecture. 


Published,  September,  1914 


STATES  or  AMERICA) 


PRICE  OF   A  SOUL 


THE  fact  that  Christ  dealt  with 
this  subject  is  proof  conclusive 
that  it  is  important,  for  He  never 
dealt  with  trivial  things.  When 
Christ  focused  attention  upon  a 
theme  it  was  because  it  was  worthy 
of  consideration — and  Christ  weighed 
the  soul.  He  presented  the  subject, 
too,  with  surpassing  force;  no  one 
will  ever  add  emphasis  to  what  He 
said.  He  understood  the  value  of  the 
question  in  argument.  If  you  will  ex- 
amine the  great  orations  delivered  at 
crises  in  the  world's  history,  you  will 
find  that  in  nearly  every  case  the 
speaker  condensed  the  whole  subject 
into  a  question,  and  in  that  question 
[5] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

embodied  what  he  regarded  as  an  un- 
answerable argument.  Christ  used 
the  question  to  give  force  to  the 
thought  which  he  presented  in  regard 
to  the  soul's  value. 

On  one  side  He  put  the  world  and 
all  that  the  world  can  contain — all  the 
wealth  that  one  can  accumulate,  all 
the  fame  to  which  one  can  aspire,  and 
all  the  happiness  that  one  can  covet; 
and  on  the  other  side  he  put  the  soul, 
and  asked  the  question  that  has  come 
ringing  down  the  centuries:  "What 
shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the 
whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?" 

There  is  no  compromise  here — no 
partial  statement  of  the  matter.  He 
leaves  us  to  write  one  term  of  the 
equation  ourselves.  He  gives  us  all 
the  time  we  desire,  and  allows  the 
imagination  to  work  to  the  limit,  and 
when  we  have  gathered  together  into 
[6] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

one  sum  all  things  but  the  soul,  He 
asks — What  if  you  gain  it  all — all — 
ALL,  and  lose  the  soul  ?  What  is  the 
profit? 

Some  have  thought  the  soul  ques- 
tion a  question  of  the  next  world  only, 
but  it  is  a  question  of  this  world  also; 
some  have  thought  the  soul  question 
a  Sabbath-day  question  only,  but  it  is 
a  week-day  question  as  well;  some 
have  thought  the  soul  question  a  ques- 
tion for  the  ministers  alone,  but  it  is 
a  question  which  we  all  must  meet. 
Every  day  and  every  week,  every 
month  and  every  year,  from  the  time 
we  reach  the  period  of  accountability 
until  we  die,  we — each  of  us — all  of 
us,  weigh  the  soul. 

And  exactly  in  proportion  as  we 

put  the  soul  above  all  things  else  we 

build  character ;  the  moment  we  allow 

the  soul  to  become  a  matter  of  mer- 

[7] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

chandise,  we  start  on  the  downward 
way. 

Tolstoy  says  that  if  you  would  in- 
vestigate the  career  of  a  criminal  it  is 
not  sufficient  to  begin  with  the  com- 
mission of  a  crime;  that  you  must  go 
back  to  that  day  in  his  life  when  he 
deliberately  trampled  upon  his  con- 
science and  did  that  which  he  knew 
to  be  wrong.  And  so  with  all  of  us, 
the  turning  point  in  the  life  is  the 
day  when  we  surrender  the  soul  for 
something  that  for  the  time  being 
seems  more  desiraMg»^xx 

Most  of  the  temptations  that  come 
to  us  to  sell  the  soul  come  in  connec- 
tion with  the  getting  of  money.  The 
Bible  says,  "The  love  of  money  is  the 
root  of  all  evil/'  If  I  had  been  mak- 
ing the  statement,  I  think  I  would 
have  said  that  the  love  of  money  is 
the  root  of  nearly  all  evil.  But  that 
[8] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  I  am 
so  conservative  in  thought  and  in 
method  of  statement,  that,  in  stating 
a  proposition,  I  prefer  to  leave  a 
margin,  so  that  if  anybody  disputes 
it  I  can  bring  proof  of  more  than  I 
said.  But  the  Bible  says,  "The  love 
of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil"  and 
I  shall  not  attempt  to  weaken  the 
statement.  If  it  is  a  mistake  at  all 
it  is  so  slight  a  mistake  that  we  need 
not  spend  time  in  correcting  it. 

And  because  so  many  of  our  temp- 
tations come  through  the  love  of 
money  and  the  desire  to  obtain  it,  it 
is  worth  while  to  consider  the  laws 
of  accumulation.  We  must  all  have 
money;  we  need  food  and  clothing 
and  shelter,  and  money  is  necessary 
for  the  purchase  of  these  things. 
Money  is  not  an  evil  in  itself — money 
is,  in  fact,  a  very  useful  servant.  It 
[9] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

is  bad  only  when  it  becomes  the  mas- 
ter, and  the  love  of  it  is  hurtful  only 
because  it  can,  and  often  does,  crowd 
out  the  love  of  nobler  things. 

But  since  we  must  all  use  money 
and  must  in  our  active  days  store  up 
money  for  the  days  when  our 
strength  fails,  let  us  see  if  we  can 
agree  upon  the  rules  that  should  gov- 
ern us  in  the  accumulation  of  the 
money  that  we  need.  How  much 
money  can  a  man  rightfully  collect 
from  society?  Surely,  there  can  be 
no  disagreement  here.  He  can  not 
rightfully  collect  more  than  he  hon- 
estly earns.  If  a  man  collects  more 
than  he  honestly  earns,  he  collects 
what  somebody  else  has  earned,  and 
we  call  it  stealing- if  a  man  takes  that 
which  belongs  to  another.  Not  only 
is  a  man  limited  in  his  collections  of 
what  he  honestly  earns,  but  no  honest 

[10] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

man  will  desire  to  collect  more  than 
he  earns. 

If  a  man  can  not  rightfully  collect 
more  than  he  honestly  earns,  it  is, 
then,  a  matter  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance to  know  how  much  money  a 
man  can  honestly  earn.  I  venture  an 
answer  to  this  and  say  that  a  man 
can  not  honestly  earn  more  than  fair- 
ly measures  the  service  which  he  ren- 
ders to  society.  I  can  not  conceive  of 
any  way  of  earning  money  except  to 
give  to  society  a  service  equivalent 
in  value  to  the  money  collected.  This 
is  a  fundamental  proposition  and  it 
is  important  that  it  should  be  clearly 
understood,  for  if  one  desires  to  col- 
lect largely  from  society  he  must  be 
prepared  to  render  a 'large  service  to 
society ;  and  our  schools  and  colleges, 
our  churches  and  all  other  organiza- 
tions for  the  improvement  of  man 
[11] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

have  for  one  of  their  chief  objects  the 
enlargement  of  the  capacity  for 
service. 

There  is  an  apparent  exception  in 
the  case  of  an  inheritance,  but  it  is 
not  a  real  exception,  for  if  the  man 
who  leaves  the  money  has  honestly 
earned  it,  he  has  already  given  so- 
ciety a  service  of  equivalent  value 
and,  therefore,  has  a  right  to  dis- 
tribute it.  And  money  received  by 
inheritance  is  either  payment  for 
service  already  rendered,  or  payment 
in  advance  for  service  to  be  rendered. 
No  right-minded  person  will  accept 
money,  even  by  inheritance,  without 
recognizing  the  obligation  it  imposes 
to  render  a  service  in  return.  This 
service  is  not  always  rendered  to  the 
one  from  whom  this  money  is  re- 
ceived, but  often  to  society  in  general. 
In  fact,  most  of  the  blessings  which 
[12] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

we  receive  come  to  us  in  such  a  way 
that  we  can  not  distinguish  the  don- 
ors and  must  make  our  return  to  the 
whole  public. 

But  I  need  not  dwell  upon  this,  be- 
cause in  this  country  more  than  any- 
where else  in  the  world  we  appreciate 
the  dignity  of  labor  and  understand 
that  it  is  honorable  to  serve.  And  yet 
there  is  room  for  improvement,  for 
all  over  our  land  there  are,  scattered 
here  and  there,  young  men  and  young 
women — and  even  parents — who  still 
think  that  it  is  more  respectable  for 
a  young  man  to  spend  in  idleness  the 
money  some  one  else  has  earned  than 
to  be  himself  a  producer  of  wealth. 
And  as  long  as  this  sentiment  is  to  be 
found  anywhere,  there  is  educational 
work  to  be  done,  for  public  opinion 
will  never  be  what  it  should  be  until 
it  puts  the  badge  of  disgrace  upon  the 
[13] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

idler,  no  matter  how  rich  he  may  be, 
rather  than  upon  the  man  who 
with  brain  or  muscle  contributes  to 
the  nation's  wealth,  the  nation's 
strength  and  the  nation's  progress. 
But,  as  I  said,  the  inheritance  is  an 
apparent,  not  an  actual,  exception, 
and  we  will  return  to  the  original 
proposition — that  one's  earnings  must 
be  measured  by  the  service  rendered. 
This  is  so  important  a  proposition 
that  I  beg  leave  to  dwell  upon  it  a 
moment  longer,  to  ask  whether  it  is 
possible  to  fix  in  dollars  and  cents  a 
maximum  limit  to  the  amount  one 
can  earn  in  a  lifetime. 

Let  us  begin  with  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  If  we  estimate  a 
working  life  at  thirty-three  years — 
and  I  think  this  is  a  fair  estimate — 
a  man  must  earn  a  little  more  than 
three  thousand  dollars  per  year  for 

[14] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

thirty-three  years  to  earn  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  in  a  lifetime.  I 
take  it  for  granted  that  no  one  will 
deny  that  it  is  possible  for  one  to 
earn  this  sum  by  rendering  a  service 
equal  to  it  in  value.  What  shall  we 
say  of  a  million  doljars?  Can  a  man 
earn  that  much?  To  do  so  he  must 
earn  a  little  more  than  thirty  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year  for  thirty-three 
years.  Is  it  possible  for  one  to  ren- 
der so  large  a  service  ?  I  believe  that 
it  is.  Well,  what  shall  we  say  of  ten 
million?  To  earn  that  much  one 
must  earn  on  an  average  a  little  more 
than  three  hundred  thousand  a  year 
for  thirty-three  years.  Is  it  possible 
for  one  to  render  a  service  so  large 
as  to  earn  so  vast  a  sum?  At  the 
risk  of  shocking  some  of  my  radical 
friends  I  am  going  to  affirm  that  it  is 
possible.  But  can  one  earn  a  hundred 
[15] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

million  ?  Yes,  I  believe  that  it  is  even 
possible  to  serve  society  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  earn  a  hundred  million 
in  the  span  of  a  human  life,  or  an 
average  of  three  million  a  year  for 
thirty-three  years.  We  have  one 
man  in  this  country  who  is  said  to 
be  worth  five  hundred  million.  To 
earn  five  hundred  million  one  must 
earn  on  an  average  of  fifteen  million 
a  year  for  thirty-three  years.  Is  this 
within  the  range  of  human  possibil- 
ity? I  believe  that  it  is.  Now,  I 
have  gone  as  high  as  any  one  has  yet 
gone  in  collecting,  but  if  there  is  any 
young  man  with  an  ambition  to  ren- 
der a  larger  service  to  the  world,  I 
will  raise  it  another  notch,  if  neces- 
sary, to  encourage  him.  So  almost 
limitless  are  the  possibilities  of 
service  in  this  age  that  I  am  not  will- 
ing to  fix  a  maximum  to  the  sum  a 

[16] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

man   can  honestly   and   legitimately 
earn. 

Not  only  do  I" believe  that  a  man 
can  earn  five  hundred  million,  but  I 
believe  that  men  have  earned  it.  I 
believe  that  Thomas  Jefferson  earned 
more  than  five  hundred  million. 
The  service  that  he  rendered  to  the 
world  was  of  such  great  value  that 
had  he  collected  for  it  five  hundred 
million  of  dollars,  he  would  not  have 
been  overpaid.  I  believe  that  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  earned  more  than  five 
hundred  million,  and  I  could  go  back 
through  history  and  give  you  the 
name  of  man  after  man  who  ren- 
dered a  service  so  large  as  to  entitle 
him  to  collect  more  than  five  hundred 
million  from  society,  but  if  I  pre- 
sented a  list  containing  the  name  of 
every  man  who,  since  time  began, 
earned  such  an  enormous  sum,  one 
[17] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

thing  would  be  true  of  all  of  them, 
namely :  that  in  not  a  single  case  did 
the  man  collect  the  full  amount.  The 
men  who  have  earned  five  hundred 
million  dollars  have  been  so  busy 
earning  it  that  they  have  not  had  time 
to  collect  it;  and  the  men  who  have 
collected  five  hundred  million  have 
been  so  busy  collecting  it  that  they 
have  not  had  time  to  earn  it. 

Jefferson  did  not  collect  all  he 
earned;  in  fact,  he  began  public  life 
well-to-do  for  a  man  of  that  period, 
and  died  poor — impoverished  by  vis- 
its of  those  who  called  to  tell  him  how 
much  they  loved  him  and  how  much 
they  appreciated  his  work.  Lincoln 
did  not  collect  the  full  amount; 
neither  Jefferson  nor  Lincoln  would 
have  cared  to  collect  five  hundred  mil- 
lion. What  would  either  one  have 
done  with  such  a  sum?  Or,  what  is 

[18] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

more  important,  what  would  five  hun- 
dred million  of  dollars  have  done  with 
Jefferson  or  Lincoln? 

In  that  wonderful  parable  of  the 
sower,  Christ  speaks  of  the  seeds  that 
fell  and  of  the  thorns  that  sprang  up 
and  choked  them,  and  He  himself  ex- 
plained what  he  meant  by  this  illus- 
tration, namely:  That  the  cares  of 
this  world  and  the  deceitfulness  of 
riches  choke  the  truth.  If  the  great 
benefactors  of  the  race  had  been  bur- 
dened with  the  care  of  big  fortunes, 
they  could  not  have  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  nobler  things  that  gave 
them  a  place  in  the  affection  of  their 
people  and  in  history. 

It  seems,  therefore,  that  while  one 
can  not  rightfully  collect  more  than 
he  honestly  earns,  he  may  earn  more 
than  it  would  be  wise  for  him  to  col- 
lect. And  that  brings  us  to  the  next 

[19] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

question:  How  much  should  one  de- 
sire to  collect  from  society?  I  an- 
swer, that  no  matter  how  large  a 
service  he  may  render  or  how  much 
he  may  earn,  one  should  not  desire  to 
collect  more  than  he  can  wisely  spend. 

And  how  much  can  one  wisely 
spend?  Not  as  much  as  you  might 
think,  and  not  nearly  as  much  as  some 
have  tried  to  spend.  No  matter  how 
honestly  money  may  be  acquired,  one 
is  not  free  to  spend  it  at  will.  We 
are  hedged  about  by  certain  restric- 
tions that  we  can  neither  remove  nor 
ignore.  God  has  written  certain  laws 
in  our  nature — laws  that  no  legisla- 
ture can  repeal — laws  that  no  court 
can  declare  unconstitutional,  and 
these  laws  limit  us  in  our  expendi- 
tures. 

Let  us  consider  some  of  the  things 
for  which  we  can  properly  spend 

[20] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

money.  We  need  food — we  all  need 
food,  and  we  need  about  the  same 
amount;  not  exactly,  but  the  differ- 
ence in  quantity  is  not  great.  The 
range  in  expenditure  is  greater  than 
the  range  in  quantity,  for  expenditure 
covers  kind  and  quality  as  well  as 
quantity.  But  there  is  a  limit  even  to 
expenditure.  If  a  man  eats  too  much 
he  suffers  for  it.  If  he  squanders 
his  money  on  high-priced  foods,  he 
wears  his  stomach  out.  There  is  an 
old  saying  which  we  have  all  heard, 
that  "The  poor  man  is  looking  for 
food  for  his  stomach,  while  the  rich 
man  is  going  from  one  watering  place 
to  another  looking  for  a  stomach  for 
his  food/'  This  is  only  a  witty  way 
of  expressing  the  sober  truth,  namely, 
that  one  is  limited  in  the  amount  of 
money  he  can  wisely  spend  for  food. 
We  need  clothing — we  all  need 
[21] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

clothing,  and  we  need  the  same 
amount.  The  difference  in  quantity 
is  not  great.  The  range  in  expendi- 
ture for  clothing  is  greater  than  the 
range  in  quantity,  because  expendi- 
ture covers  style  and  variety  as  well 
as  quantity,  but  there  is  a  limit  to  the 
amount  of  money  one  can  wisely 
spend  for  clothing.  If  a  man  has  so 
much  clothing  that  it  takes  all  of  his 
time  to  change  his  clothes,  he  has 
more  than  he  needs  and  more  than  he 
can  wisely  spend  money  for. 

We  need  homes — we  all  need  shel- 
ter, and  we  need  about  the  same 
amount.  In  fact,  God  was  very  demo- 
cratic in  the  distribution  of  our  needs, 
for  he  so  created  us  that  our  needs 
are  about  the  same.  The  range  of 
expenditure  for  homes  is  probably 
wider  than  in  the  case  of  either  food 
or  clothing.  We  are  interested  in  the 

[22] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

home.  I  never  pass  a  little  house 
where  two  young  people  are  starting 
out  in  life  without  feeling  a  sympa- 
thetic interest  in  that  home;  I  never 
pass  a  house  where  a  room  is  being 
added  without  feeling  interested,  for 
I  know  the  occupants  have  planned  it, 
and  looked  forward  to  it  and  waited 
for  it;  I  like  to  see  a  little  house 
moved  back  and  a  larger  house  built, 
for  I  know  it  is  the  fulfilment  of  a 
dream.  I  have  had  some  of  these 
dreams  myself,  and  I  know  how  they 
lead  us  on  and  inspire  us  to  larger 
effort  and  greater  endeavor,  and  yet 
there  is  a  limit  to  the  amount  one  can 
wisely  spend  even  for  so  good  a  thing 
as  a  home. 

If  a  man  gets  too  big  a  house  it 
becomes  a  burden  to  him,  and  some 
have  had  this  experience.  Not  infre- 
quently a  young  couple  will  start  out 

[23] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

poor  and  struggle  along  in  a  little 
house,  looking  forward  to  the  time 
when  they  can  build  a  big  house. 
After  a  while  the  time  arrives  and 
they  build  a  big  house,  larger,  possi- 
bly, than  they  intended  to  and  it 
nearly  always  costs  more  than  they 
thought  it  would,  and  then  they 
struggle  along  the  rest  of  their  lives 
looking  back  to  the  time  when  they 
lived  in  a  little  house. 

We  speak  of  people  being  indepen- 
dently rich.  That  is  a  mistake ;  they 
are  dependently  rich.  The  richer  a 
man  is  the  more  dependent  he  is — 
the  more  people  he  depends  upon  to 
help  him  collect  his  income,  and  the 
more  people  he  depends  upon  to  help 
him  spend  his  income.  Sometimes  a 
couple  will  start  out  doing  their  own 
work — the  wife  doing  the  work  inside 
the  house  and  the  man  outside;  but 

[24] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

they  prosper,  and  after  a  while  they 
are  able  to  afford  help.  They  get  a 
girl  to  help  the  wife  inside  and  a  man 
to  help  the  husband  outside ;  then  they 
prosper  more — and  they  get  two  girls 
to  help  inside  and  two  men  to  help 
outside,  then  three  girls  inside  and 
three  men  outside.  Finally  they  have 
so  many  girls  helping  inside  and  so 
many  men  helping  outside  that  they 
can  not  leave  the  house — they  have  to 
stay  at  home  and  look  after  the  estab- 
lishment. And  this  is  not  a  new  con- 
dition. One  of  the  Latin  poets  com- 
plained of  "the  cares  that  hover  about 
the  fretted  ceilings  of  the  rich,"  and 
it  was  this  condition  that  inspired 
Charles  Wagner  to  write  his  little 
book  entitled  "The  Simple  Life,"  in 
which  he  entered  an  eloquent  protest 
against  the  materialism  which  makes 
man  the  slave  of  his  possessions  and 

[25] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

presented  an  earnest  plea  for  the  rais- 
ing of  the  spiritual  above  the  purely 
physical.  I  repeat,  there  is  a  limit 
to  the  amount  a  man  can  wisely 
spend  upon  a  home. 

But  a  man  can  give  his  money 
away.  Yes,  and  no  one  who  has  ever 
tried  it  will  deny  that  more  pleasure 
is  to  be  derived  from  the  giving  of 
money  to  a  cause  in  which  one's  heart 
is  interested,  than  can  be  obtained 
from  the  expenditure  of  the  same 
amount  in  selfish  indulgence.  But  if 
one  is  going  to  give  largely  he  must 
spend  a  great  deal  of  time  in  investi- 
gating and  in  comparing  the  merits 
of  the  different  enterprises,  and  I  am 
persuaded  that  there  is  a  better  life 
than  the  life  led  by  those  who  spend 
nearly  all  the  time  accumulating 
beyond  their  needs  and  then  employ 
the  last  few  days  in  giving  it  away. 

[26] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

What  the  world  needs  is  not  a  few 
men  of  great  wealth,  doling  out  their 
money  in  anticipation  of  death — what 
the  world  needs  is  that  these  men 
shall  link  themselves  in  sympathetic 
interest  with  struggling  humanity  and 
help  to  solve  the  problems  of  to-day, 
instead  of  creating  problems  for  the 
next  generation  to  solve. 

But  you  say,  a  man  can  leave  his 
money  to  his  children?  He  can,  if  he 
dares.  But  a  large  fortune,  in  antici- 
pation, has  ruined  more  sons  than  it 
has  ever  helped.  If  a  young  man  has 
so  much  money  coming  to  him  that 
he  knows  he  will  never  have  to  work, 
the  chances  are  that  it  will  sap  his 
energy,  even  if  it  does  not  undermine 
his  character,  and  leave  him  a  curse 
rather  than  a  blessing  to  those  who 
brought  him  into  the  world.  And  it 
is  scarcely  safer  to  leave  the  money 
[27] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

to  a  daughter.  For  if  a  young 
woman  has  a  prospective  inheritance 
so  large  that,  when  a  young  man  calls 
upon  her,  she  can  not  tell  whether 
he  is  calling  upon  her  or  her  father, 
it  is  embarrassing — especially  so  if 
she  finds  after  marriage  that  he  mar- 
ried the  wrong  member  of  the  fam- 
ily. And,  I  may  add,  that  the  daugh- 
ters of  the  very  rich  are  usually 
hedged  about  by  a  social  environment 
which  prevents  their  making  the  ac- 
quaintance of  the  best  young  men. 
The  men  who,  twenty-five  years  from 
now,  will  be  the  leaders  in  business, 
in  society,  in  government,  and  in  the 
church,  are  not  the  pampered  sons  of 
the  rich,  but  the  young  men  who,  with 
good  health  and  good  habits,  with 
high  ideals  and  strong  ambition,  are, 
under  the  spur  of  necessity,  laying 
the  foundation  for  future  achieve- 

[28] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

ments,  and  these  young  men  do  not 
have  a  chance  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  daughters  of  the  very  rich. 
Even  if  they  did  know  them  they 
might  hesitate  to  enter  upon  the  scale 
of  expenditure  to  which  these  daugh- 
ters are  accustomed. 

I  have  spoken  at  length  in  regard 
to  these  limitations,  altho  we  all  know 
of  them  or  should.  The  ministers 
tell  us  about  these  things  Sunday 
after  Sunday,  or  should,  and  yet  we 
find  men  chasing  the  almighty  dollar 
until  they  fall  exhausted  into  the 
grave.  A  few  years  ago  I  read  a 
sermon  by  Dr.  Talmage  on  this  sub- 
ject; he  said  a  man  who  wore  him- 
self out  getting  money  that  he  did  not 
need  would  finally  drop  dead,  and 
that  his  pastor  would  tell  a  group  of 
sorrowing  friends  that,  by  a  mysteri- 
ous dispensation  of  Providence,  the 

[29] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

good  man  had  been  cut  off  in  his 
prime.  Dr.  Talmage  said  that  Provi- 
dence had  nothing  to  do  with  it,  and 
that  the  minister  ought  to  tell  the 
truth  about  it  and  say  that  the  man 
had  been  kicked  to  death  by  the 
golden  calf. 

A  few  weeks  ago  I  read  a  story  by 
Tolstoy,  and  I  did  not  notice  until  I 
had  completed  it  that  the  title  of  the 
story  was,  "What  shall  it  profit  ?" 
The  great  Russian  graphically  pre- 
sented the  very  thought  that  I  have 
been  trying  to  impress  upon  your 
minds.  He  told  of  (a  Russian  peasant 
who  had  land  hunger — who  added 
farm  to  farm  and  land  to  land,  but 
could  never  get  enough.  After  a 
while  he  heard  of  a  place  where  land 
was  cheaper  and  he  sold  his  land  and 
went  and  bought  more  land.  But  he 
had  no  more  than  settled  there  until 

[30] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

he  heard  of  another  place  among  a 
half  civilized  people  where  land  was 
cheaper  still.  He  took  a  servant  and 
went  into  this  distant  country  and 
hunted  up  the  head  man  of  the  tribe, 
who  offered  him  all  the  land  he  could 
walk  around  in  a  day  for  a  thousand 
rubles — told  him  he  could  put  the 
money  down  on  any  spot  and  walk  in 
any  direction  as  far  and  as  fast  as  he 
would,  and  that  if  he  was  back  by 
sunset  he  could  have  all  the  land  he 
could  encompass  during  the  day.  He 
put  the  money  down  upon  the  ground 
and  started  at  sunrise  to  get,  at  last, 
enough  land.  He  started  leisurely, 
but  as  he  looked  upon  the  land  it 
looked  so  good  that  he  hurried  a  little 
— and  then  he  hurried  more,  and  then 
he  went  faster  still.  Before  he  turned 
he  had  gone  further  in  that  direction 
than  he  had  intended,  but  he  spurred 

[31] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

himself  on  and  started  on  the  second 
side.  Before  he  turned  again  the  sun 
had  crossed  the  meridian  and  he  had 
two  sides  yet  to  cover.  As  the  sun 
was  slowly  sinking  in  the  west  he  con- 
stantly accelerated  his  pace,  alarmed 
at  last  for  fear  he  might  have  under- 
taken too  much  and  might  lose  it  all. 
He  reached  the  starting  point,  how- 
ever, just  as  the  sun  went  down,  but 
he  had  overtaxed  his  strength  and  fell 
dead  upon  the  spot.  Then  his  servant 
dug  a  grave  for  him  and  he  only 
needed  six  feet  of  ground  then,  the 
same  that  others  needed — and  the  rest 
of  the  land  was  of  no  use  to  him. 
Thus  far  Tolstoy  told  the  story  of 
many  a  life — not  the  life  of  the  very 
rich  only,  but  the  story  of  every  life 
in  which  the  love  of  money  is  the 
controlling  force  and  in  which  the 

[32] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

desire  for  gain  shrivels  the  soul  and 
leaves  the  life  a  failure  at  last. 

I  desire  to  show  you  how  practical 
this  subject  is.  If  time  permitted  I 
could  take  up  every  occupation,  every 
avocation,  every  profession  and  every 
calling,  and  show  you  that  no  matter 
which  way  we  turn — no  matter  what 
we  do — we  are  always  and  every- 
where weighing  the  Soul. 

In  the  brief  time  that  it  is  proper 
for  me  to  occupy,  I  shall  apply  the 
thought  to  those  departments  of  hu- 
man activity  in  which  the  sale  of  a 
soul  affects  others  largely  as  well  as 
the  individual  who  makes  the  bar- 
gain. 

Take  the  occupation  in  which  I  am 
engaged,  journalism.  It  presents  a 
great  field — a  growing  field;  in  fact, 
there  are  few  fields  so  large.  The 
journalist  is  both  a  news  gatherer  and 
[33] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

a  molder  of  thought.  He  informs  his 
readers  as  to  what  is  going  on,  and 
he  points  out  the  relation  between 
cause  and  effect — interprets  current 
history.  Public  opinion  is  the  con- 
trolling force  in  a  republic,  and  the 
newspaper  gives  to  the  journalist,  be- 
yond every  one  else,  the  opportunity 
to  affect  public  opinion.  Others  reach 
the  readers  of  a  newspaper  through 
the  courtesy  of  the  owner  of  the  pa- 
per, but  he  has  full  access  to  his  own 
columns,  and  does  not  fear  the  blue 
pencil.  The  journalist  occupies  the 
position  of  a  watchman  upon  a  tower. 
He  is  often  able  to  see  dangers  which 
are  not  observed  by  the  general  pub- 
lic, and  because  he  can  see  these  dan- 
gers he  is  in  a  position  of  greater 
responsibility.  Is  he  discharging  the 
duty  which  superior  opportunity  im- 
poses upon  him?  I  might  mention  a 

[34] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

number  of  temptations  which  come  to 
the  journalist,  but  I  shall  content  my- 
self with  a  few.  First,  there  is  the 
temptation  to  conceal  the  name  of  the 
real  owner  of  the  paper.  The  pro- 
prietor of  a  paper  should  be  known, 
but  his  identity  is  not  always  dis- 
closed. The  corporate  entity  which 
plays  so  large  a  part  in  the  business 
world  has  entered  the  newspaper 
field.  The  names  of  the  stockholders 
are  not  published  and  we  .do  not  al- 
ways know  what  individuality  directs 
the  paper's  policy.  Year  by  year  the 
disclosures  are  bringing  to  light  the 
fact  that  the  predatory  interests  are 
using  the  newspapers  and  even  some 
magazines  for  tfie  defense  of  com- 
mercial iniquity  and  for  the  purpose 
of  attacking  those  who  lift  their 
voices  against  favoritism  and  privi- 
lege. A  financial  magnate  interested 
[35] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

in  the  exploitation  of  the  public  se- 
cures control  of  a  paper;  he  employs 
business  managers,  managing  editors, 
and  a  reportorial  staff.  He  does  not 
act  openly  or  in  the  daylight  but 
through  a  group  of  employes  who  are 
the  visible  but  not  the  real  directors. 
The  reporters  are  instructed  to  bring 
in  the  kind  of  news  which  will  ad- 
vance the  enterprises  owned  by  ;the 
man  who  stands  back  of  the  paper, 
and  if  the  news  brought  in  is  not 
entirely  satisfactory  it  is  doctored  in 
the  office.  The  columns  of  the  paper 
are  filled  with  matter,  written  not  for 
the  purpose  of  presenting  facts  as 
they  exist,  but  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 
torting facts  and  misleading  the  pub- 
lic. The  editorial  writers,  whose 
names  are  generally  unknown  to  the 
public,  are  told  what  to  say  and  what 
subjects  to  avoid.  They  are  in- 

[36] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

structed  to  .extol  the  merits  of  those 
who  are  subservient  to  the  interests 
represented  by  the  paper,  and  to  mis- 
represent and  traduce  those  who  dare 
to  criticize  or  oppose  the  plans  of 
those  who  hide  behind  the  paper. 
Such  journalists  are  members  of  a 
kind  of  "Blackhand  society";  they 
are  assassins,  hiding  in  ambush  and 
striking  in  the  dark;  and  the  worst  of 
it  is  that  the  readers  have  no  way  of 
knowing  when  a  change  takes  place 
in  the  ownership  of  such  a  paper. 
Editorial  poison,  like  other  poisons, 
can  be  administered  more  success- 
fully if  the  victim  is  in  ignorance  as 
to  who  administers  it. 

There  are  degrees  of  culpability 
and  some  are  disposed  to  hold  an  edi- 
torial writer  guiltless  even. when  they 
visit  condemnation  upon  the  secret 
director  of  the  paper's  policy.  I  pre- 
137] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

sent  to  you  a  different — and  I  believe 
higher — ideal  of  journalism.  If  we 
are  going  to  make  ,any  progress  in 
morals  we  must  abandon  the  idea  that 
morals  are  defined  by  the  statutes ;  we 
must  recognize  that  there  is  a  wide 
margin  between  that  which  the  law 
prohibits  tand  that  which  an  enlight- 
ened conscience  can  approve.  We  do 
not  legislate  against  the  man  who  uses 
the  printed  page  for  the  purpose  of 
deception  but,  viewed  from  the  stand- 
point of  morals,  the  man  who, 
whether  voluntarily  or  under  instruc- 
tions, writes  what  he  knows  to  be  un- 
true or  purposely  misleads  his  readers 
as  to  the  character  of  a  proposition 
upon  which  they  have  to  act,  is  as 
guilty  of  wrong-doing  as  the  man 
who  assists  in  any  other  swindling 
transaction. 

Another  method  employed  to  mis- 

[38] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

lead  the  public  is  the  publication  of 
editorial  matter,  supplied  by  those  who 
have  an  interest  to  serve.  This  evil 
is  even  more  common  than  secrecy  as 
to  the  ownership  of  the  paper.  In 
the  case  of  the  weekly  papers  and  the 
smaller  dailies,  the  proprietor  is  gen- 
erally known,  and  it  is  understood 
that  the  editorial  page  represents  his 
views.  His  standing  and  character 
give  weight  to  that  which  appears 
with  his  endorsement.  A  few  years 
ago,  when  the  railroad  rate  bill  was 
before  Congress,  a  number  of  rail- 
roads joined  in  an  effort  to  create  a 
public  sentiment  against  the  bill. 
Bureaus  were  established  for  the  dis- 
semination of  literature,  and  a  num- 
ber of  newspapers  entered  into  con- 
tract to  publish  as  editorial  matter  the 
material  furnished  by  these  bureaus. 
This  can  not  be  defended  in  ethics. 

[39] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

The  purchase  of , the  editorial  columns 
is  a  crime  against  the  public  and  a 
disgrace  to  journalism,  and  yet  we 
have  frequent  occasion  to  note  this 
degradation  of  the  newspaper.  Sen- 
ator Carter,  of  Montana,  speaking 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  caused 
to  be  read  several  printed  slips 
which  were  sent  out  by  a  bankers' 
association  to  local  bankers  with 
the  request  that  they  be  inserted  in 
the  local  papers,  suggestion  being 
made  that  the  instructions  to  the  local 
bankers  be  removed  before  they  were 
handed  to  the  papers.  The  purpose 
of  the  bankers'  association  was  to 
stimulate  opposition  to  the  postal  sav- 
ings bank,  a  policy  endorsed  affirm- 
atively by  the  Republican  party,  and, 
conditionally,  by  the  Democratic 
party,  the  two  platforms  being  sup- 
ported at  the  polls  by  more  than 
[40] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

ninety  per  cent  of  the  voters.  The 
bankers'  association  opposed  the  pol- 
icy, and,  in  sending  out  its  literature, 
it  -was  endeavoring  to  conceal  the 
source  of  that  literature  and  to  make 
it  appear  that  the  printed  matter 
represented  the  opinion  of  some  one 
in  the  community. 

The  journalist  who  would  fully 
perform  his  duty  must  be  not  only 
incorruptible,  but  ever  alert,  for  those 
who  are  trying  to  misuse  the  news- 
papers are  able  to  deceive  "the  very 
elect."  .Whenever  any  movement  is 
on  foot  for  the  securing  of  legislation 
desired  by  the  predatory  interests,  or 
when  restraining  legislation  is  threat- 
ened, news  bureaus  are  established  at 
Washington,  and  these  news  bureaus 
furnish  to  such  papers,  as  will  use 
them,  free  reports,  daily  or  weekly  as 
the  case  may  be,  from  the  national 
[41] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

capitol — reports  which  purport  to 
give  general  news,  but  which  in  fact 
contain  arguments  in  support  of  the 
schemes  which  the  bureaus  are  orga- 
nized to  advance.  This  ingenious 
method  of  misleading  the  public  is 
only  a  part  of  the  general  plan  which 
favor-holding  and  favor-seeking  cor- 
porations pursue. 

Demosthenes  declared  that  the  man 
who  refuses  a  bribe  conquers  the  man 
who  offers  it.  According  to  this,  the 
journalist  who  resists  the  many  temp- 
tations which  come  to  him  to  surren- 
der his  ideals  has  the  consciousness  of 
winning  a  moral  victory  as  well  as  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  he  is 
rendering  ;a  real  service  to  his  fel- 
lows. 

The  profession  for  which  I  was 
trained — the  law — presents  another 
line  of  temptations.  The  court 

[42] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

room  is  a  soul's  market  where 
many  barter  away  their  ideals  in  the 
hope  of  winning  wealth  or  fame. 
Lawyers  sometimes  boast  of  the  num- 
ber of  men  whose  acquittal  they  have 
secured  when  they  knew  them  to  be 
guilty,  and  of  advantages  won  which 
they  knew  their  clients  did  not  de- 
serve. I  do  not  understand  how  a 
lawyer  can  so  boast,  for  he  is  an  of- 
ficer of  the  court  and,  as  such,  is 
sworn  to  assist  in  the  administra- 
tion of  justice.  When  a  lawyer  has 
helped  his  client  to  obtain  all  that  he 
really  deserves  he  has  done  his  full 
duty  as  a  lawyer,  and  if  he  goes 
beyond  this,  he  goes  at  his  own  peril. 
Show  me  a  lawyer  who  has  spent  a 
lifetime  trying  to  obscure  the  line  be- 
tween right  and  wrong,  trying  to 
prove  that  to  be  just  which  he  knew 
to  be  unjust,  and  I  will  show  you  a 

[43] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

man  who  has  grown,  weaker  in  char- 
acter year  by  year,  and  whose  advice, 
at  last,  will  be  of  no  value  to  his 
clients,  for  he  will  have  lost  the  power 
to  discern  between  .right  and  wrong. 
Show  me,  on  the  other  hand,  a  lawyer 
who  has  spent  a  lifetime  in  the  search 
for  truth,  determined  to  follow  where 
it  leads,  and  I  will  show  ,you  a  man 
who  has  grown  stronger  in  character 
day  by  day  and  whose  advice  con- 
stantly becomes  more  valuable  to  his 
clients,  because  the  power  to  discern 
the  truth  increases  with  the  honest 
search  for  it. 

Not  only  in  the  court  room,  but 
in  the  consultation  chamber  the  law- 
yer sometimes  yields  to  the  tempta- 
tion to  turn  his  talents  to  a  sordid 
use.  The  schemes  of  spoliation  that 
defy  the  officers  of  the  law  are,  for 
the  most  part,  inaugurated  and  di- 
[44] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

reeled  by  legal  minds.  President 
Roosevelt,  speaking  at  Harvard  a  few 
years  ago,  complained  that  the  grad- 
uates of  that  great  university  fre- 
quently furnished  the  brains  for  con- 
spiracies against  the  public  welfare. 
I  was  speaking  on  this  very  subject  in 
one  of  the  great  cities  of  the  country 
some  months  ago,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  address,  a  judge  commended  my 
criticism  and  declared  that  most  of 
the  lawyers  practising  in  his  court 
were  constantly  selling  their  souls. 
The  lawyer's  position  is  scarcely  less 
responsible  than  the  position  of  the 
journalist,  and  if  the  journalists  and 
lawyers  pf  the  country  could  be 
brought  to  abstain  from  the  prac- 
tises by  which  the  general  public  is 
overreached,  it  would  be  an  easy  mat- 
ter to  secure  the  remedial  legislation 
necessary  to  protect  the  producing 
[45] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

masses  £ rom  the  constant  spoliation 
to  which  they  are  now  subjected  by 
the  privileged  classes. 

If  a  man  who  is  planning  a  train- 
robbery  takes  another  along  to  hold  a 
horse  at  a  convenient  distance,  we 
say  that  the  man  who  holds  the  horse 
is  equally  guilty  with  the  man  who 
robs  the  train ;  and  the  time  will  come 
when  public  opinion  will  hold  as 
equally  guilty  with  the  plunderers  of 
society  the  lawyers  and  journalists 
who  assist  the  plunderers  to  escape. 

Most  of  you  are,  I  presume,  en- 
gaged in  what  is  known  as  business, 
altho  I  confess  that  I  have  no  sym- 
pathy with  the  narrow  definition 
which  is  often  given  to  the  word  busi- 
ness. Every  person  who  contributes 
by  brain  or  muscle  to  the  nation's 

wealth  and  greatness  is  engaged  in 
[46] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

business  and  is  a  necessary  factor  in 
the  world's  progress. 

Commerce  is  an  increasing  factor 
in  the  business  world.  It  includes 
both  exchange  and  transportation  and 
stands  next  in  importance  to  produc- 
tion. Production  comes  first,  but 
production  could  only  be  conducted 
on  a  limited  scale  without  the  ex- 
change of  merchandise.  To  desire  to 
gain  an  honorable  distinction  in  this 
department  of  labor  is  a  worthy  am- 
bition. He  who  improves  the  instru- 
ments of  trade  by  bringing  purchaser 
and  consumer  nearer  together,  thus 
facilitating  exchange,  may  count  him- 
self a  real  benefactor.  But  even  here 
there  are  temptations  to  be  avoided. 
Let  me  suggest  three.  First,  specu- 
lation. I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the 
element  of  chance  can  be  entirely 
eliminated  from  any  kind  of  business. 

[47] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

The  farmer  takes  his  chances  upon 
the  seasons;  the  merchant  takes  his 
chances  upon  the  market;  the  rail- 
road owner  takes  his  chances  upon 
both  the  season  and  the  market;  and 
we  all  take  our  chances  upon  sickness 
and  death.  Uncertainty  enters  into 
every  human  calculation,  but  a  dis- 
tinction can  be  drawn  between  those 
uncertainties  which  are  unavoidable 
and  those  uncertainties  which  are  of 
the  very  essence  of  the  transaction. 
There  is  a  legitimate  work  for  the 
stock  exchange  and  for  the  chamber 
of  commerce,  but  there  is  an  illegiti- 
mate and  vicious  speculation  on  the 
stock  exchange  and  the  produce  mar- 
ket which  has  lured  many  business 
men  to  their  fall.  The  ordinary 
methods  _of  accumulation  are  neces- 
sarily slow  when  competition  is  left 

free  to   regulate   profits,   while   the 
[48] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

gambler  is  spurred  on  by  the  hope  of 
quickly  realizing  a  large  profit  upon  a 
small  investment.  It  is  not  strange 
that  many  are  charmed  by  the  siren 
song  of  the  stock  ticker,  but  it  means 
ruin,  and  to  the  extent  that  a  man 
yields  to  the  temptation  ;his  morals 
are  weakened.  There  is  but  one  sure 
measure  of  rewards,  viz.,  one  that 
compensates  each  in  proportion  as  he 
serves  society.  The  securing  of 
something  for  nothing  by  ,a  lucky  turn 
of  a  card,  or  by  a  sudden  change  in 
the  market  paralyzes  one's  purpose, 
and,  in  time,  renders  him  unfit  for 
patient  and  persistent  effort.  I  might 
emphasize  the  fact  that  gambling  in 
stocks  and  farm  products  often  leads 
to  embezzlement,  larceny  and  suicide, 
for  these  are  the  fruits  of  speculation 
when  it  becomes  a  disease.  But  I 
prefer  to  put  my  argument  against 
[49] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

gambling  .upon  the  broader  ground 
that  it  is,  in  all  cases,  a  demoralizing 
influence,  whether  the  gambler  wins 
or  loses. 

I  might  dwell  upon  the  evil  effects 
of  speculation  upon  innocent  parties 
whose  property  is  juggled  up  or  jug- 
gled down  by  the  manipulations  of  the 
market,  but  I  would  appeal,  not  only 
to  the  innocent  outsider,  but  to  those 
who  may  be  tempted  by  the  profits 
promised  to  the  inside  ring.  I  would 
suggest,  however,  that  those  who  by 
cornering  the  market  suspend  the  law 
of  supply  and  demand,  add  crime  to 
vice  and  defraud  those  who  are  in- 
duced to  invest  in  a  "chance"  which 
has  no  actual  existence. 

Monopoly  is  the  second  commercial 
temptation.  Monopolies  have  been 
attempted  ever  since  trading  began, 

and  they  are  more  common  to-day 
[50] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

than  ever  before  because  more  money 
can  be  made  out  of  them.  Many 
well-meaning  business  men  permit 
themselves  to  be  drawn  into  practises 
which  are  not  only  indefensible  in  the 
realm  of  conscience,  but  which  vio- 
late the  statutes.  The  officers  of  the 
law  are  constantly  engaged  in  an  ef- 
fort to  prevent  the  monopolizing  of 
trade. 

It  is  strange  that  anyone  should 
attempt  to  defend  a  private  monopoly, 
for  its  plan  and  operation  can  be 
easily  understood  by  any  one  who 
knows  either  human  nature  or  his- 
tory. No  judge  would  be  permitted 
to  preside  in  his  own  case;  no  juror 
would  be  allowed  to  serve  in  a  suit  to 
which  he  was  a  party,  and  yet  the 
head  of  a  monopoly  arbitrarily  de- 
cides, every-day,  questions  where  his 
interests  are  on  one  side  and  public 
[51] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

interests  on  the  other.  Can  he  be 
trusted  to  decide  impartially  and  to 
exact  only  a  reasonable  profit  ?  It  is 
absurd  to  expect  him  to  do  justice  to 
those  with  whom  he  deals.  The  stu- 
dent of  history  knows  that  the  mo- 
nopolist has  always  been  an  outlaw. 
Three  centuries  ago,  under  Queen 
Elizabeth,  the  House  of  Commons 
protested  against  the  monopolies 
which  she  had  authorized,  and  I 
found,  when  in  the  Holy  Land,  that  a 
very  complete  monopoly  existed,  there 
some  seventeen  hundred  years  ago. 
Josephus  tells  how  John  of  Gishala 
secured  a  monopoly  in  olive  oil  and 
charged  ten  times  as  much  for  the 
oil  as  he  paid  for  it.  For  the  benefit 
of  those  who  think  that  all  monopo- 
lies are  traceable  to  the  rebate,  I  ven- 
ture to  suggest  that  the  oil  trust  of 
Palestine  was  successfully  operated 
[52] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

before  railroads  existed.  But  even 
tho  John  had  nothing  better  than 
a  fast  freight  line  of  donkeys  and  dis- 
tributed the  oil  in  goat  skins,  he 
showed  as  correct  an  understanding 
of  the  possibilities  of  monopoly  as  any 
trust  magnate  has  to-day,  and  I  have 
wondered  whether  our  John  secured 
his  idea  of  an  oil  trust  from  John  of 
Gishala. 

We  need  laws  making  the  private 
monopoly  impossible,  but  we  must 
have  back  of  these  laws  a  moral  sen- 
timent which  will  condemn  the  club 
wielded  by  the  monopolist,  as  moral 
sentiment  now  condemns  the  high- 
wayman's bludgeon. 

The  third  temptation  to  which  the 
commercial  man  is  subjected  is  the 
corruption  of  politics.  Just  in  pro- 
portion as  .a  corporation  secures  a 

monopoly  of  the  business  in  which  it 
[S3] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

is  engaged,  in  that  proportion  the 
necessity  for  government  regulation 
increases,  and  I  may  add,  the  diffi- 
culty of  securing  regulation  increases 
in  proportion  to  the  necessity  for  it. 
Municipal  corruption  has  become  a 
byword,  and  the  lobbyist  has  made 
his  evil  presence  felt  at  the  national 
and  State  capitals.  Bribery  is  becom- 
ing a  fine  art,  and  neither  the  voter 
nor  his  representative  is  spared.  The 
one  lesson  that  must  be  taught  is  that 
the  man  who  gives  a  bribe  is  as 
wicked  as  the  man  who  accepts  it — I 
am  not  sure  but  that  he  is  more 
wicked,  for  the  necessities  of  the  man 
who  accepts  the  bribe — if  need  can 
palliate  such  an  offense — are  usually 
greater  than  those  of  the  man  who  of- 
fers it.  I  appeal  to  you  to  assist,  in 
every  possible  way,  in  the  creation  of 

a  public  sentiment  which  will  ostra- 
[54] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

cise  the  business  man  who  purchases 
legislation  with  the  profits  derived 
from  privileges  already  secured,  or 
who  advances  corruption  money  in 
anticipation  of  the  profits  which  gov- 
ernmental favors  promise. 

In  the  counting  room  as  well  as  in 
the  editor's  library  and  in  the  lawyer's 
office  one  hears  the  heart-searching 
question :  "What  shall  it  profit  a  man 
if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world  and 
lose  his  own  soul?" — and  happiness, 
honor  and  usefulness  all  hang  upon 
the  answer. 

I  would  not  be  forgiven  if  I  failed 
to  apply  my  theme  to  the  work  of  the 
instructor.  The  purpose  of  educa- 
tion is  not  merely  to  develop  the 
mind ;  it  is  to  prepare  men  and  women 
for  society's  work  and  for  citizenship. 
The  ideals  of  the  teacher,  therefore, 

are   of   the   first   importance.     The 
[55] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

pupil  is  apt  to  be  as  much  influenced 
by  what  his  teacher  is  as  by  what  the 
teacher  says  or  .does.  The  measure 
of  a  school  can  not  be  gathered  from 
an  inspection  of  the  examination  pa- 
pers; the  conception  of  life  which  the 
graduate  carries  away  must  be 
counted  in  estimating  the  benefits 
conferred.  The  pecuniary  rewards 
of  the  teacher  are  usually  small  when 
compared  with  the  rewards  of  busi- 
ness. This  may  be  due  in  part  to  our 
failure  to  properly  appreciate  the 
work  which  the  teacher  does,  but  it 
may  be  partially  accounted  for  by  the 
fact  that  the  teacher  derives  from  his 
work  a  satisfaction  greater  than  that 
obtained  from  most  other  employ- 
ments. 

The  teacher  comes  in  contact  with 
the  life  of  the  student,  and,  as  our 

greatest  joy  is  derived  from  the  con- 
[56] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

sciousness  of  having  benefited  others, 
the  teacher  rightly  counts  as  a  part 
of  his  compensation  the  continuing 
pleasure  to  be  found  in  the  knowl- 
edge that  he  is  projecting  his  in- 
fluence through  future  generations. 
The  heart  plays  as  large  a  part  as  the 
head  in  the  teacher's  work,  because 
the  heart  is  an  important  factor  in 
every  life  and  in  the  shaping  of  the 
destiny  of  the  race.  I  fear  the  plu- 
tocracy of  wealth;  I  respect  the  aris- 
tocracy of  learning;  but  I  thank  God 
for  the  democracy  of  the  heart.  It 
is  upon  the  heart-level  that  we  meet ; 
it  is  by  the  characteristics  of  the  heart 
that  we  best  know  and  best  remember 
each  other.  Astronomers  tell  us  the 
distance  of  each  star  from  the  earth, 
but  no  mathematician  can  calculate 
the  influence  which  a  noble  teacher 

may  exert  upon  posterity.    And  yet 
[57] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

even  the  teacher  may  fall  from  his 
high  estate,  and,  forgetting  his  im- 
measurable responsibility,  yield  to  the 
temptation  to  estimate  his  work  by 
its  pecuniary  reward. 

Let  me  turn  for  a  moment  from  the 
profession  and  the  occupation  to  the 
calling.  I  am  sure  I  shall  not  be  ac- 
cused of  departing  from  the  truth 
when  I  say  that  even  those  who  min- 
ister to  our  spiritual  wants  and,  as 
our  religious  leaders,  help  to  fix  our 
standards  of  morality,  sometimes 
prove  unfaithful  to  their  trust.  They 
are  human,  and  the  frailties  of  man 
obscure  the  light  which  shines  from 
within,  even  when  that  light  is  a  re- 
flection from  the  throne  of  God.  The 
ministers  have  for  years  considered 
the  liquor  question  a  moral  question, 
and  I  would  not  chide  them  for  their 

activity ;  but  I  think  too  little  empha- 
[58] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

sis  has  been  placed  upon  the  impor- 
tance of  total  abstinence.  Whether 
a  Christian  can  drink  in  moderation 
without  harm  to  himself  is  purely  a 
physical  question,  and  some  Chris- 
tians have  overestimated  their  ability 
to  confine  their  drinking  within  safe 
limits;  but  there  is  a  moral  question 
which  is  much  larger,  namely,  can  a 
Christian  afford  to  indulge  the  appe- 
tite for  drink  if  his  example  leads 
weaker  men  to  ruin  ? 

The  great  apostle  said  that,  if  eat- 
ing meat  made  his  brother  to  offend, 
he  would  eat  no  meat.  It  is  a  part 
of  the  minister's  work  to  cultivate 
such  a  love  of  brother  in  the  Christian 
heart  that  the  Christian  will  para- 
phrase the  language  of  the  apostle 
and  say:  If  drinking  maketh  my 
brother  to  offend,  I  shall  not  drink. 

Then,  too,  we  have  not  sufficiently 
[59] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

considered  man's  social  needs.  Man 
must  have  communion  with  his 
friends,  and  we  have  left  the  saloon 
to  furnish  about  the  only  meeting 
place  in  the  cities  and  towns.  Rooms 
should  be  opened  where  men  can  meet 
with  wholesome  surroundings  and 
free  from  the  temptations  that  are 
ever  present  where  men  meet  in  a 
room  provided  by  one  who  has  a  pe- 
cuniary interest  in  cultivating  an  ap- 
petite for  drink. 

The  ministers  must  deal  with  all 
questions  that  involve  morals,  and 
every  great  question  is  in  its  final 
analysis  a  question  of  ethics. 

We  need  more  Elijahs  in  the  pul- 
pit to-day — more  men  who  will  dare 
to  upbraid  an  Ahab  and  defy  a  Jeze- 
bel. It  is  possible,  ay,  probable,  that 
even  now,  as  of  old,  persecution 
would  follow  such  boldness  of  speech, 

[60] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

but  he  who  consecrates  himself  to 
religion  must  smite  evil  wherever  he 
finds  it,  altho  in  smiting  it  he  may 
risk  his  salary  and  his  social  position. 
It  is  easy  enough  to  denounce  the 
petty  thief  and  the  back-alley  gam- 
bler ;  it  is  easy  enough  to  condemn  the 
friendless  rogue  and  the  penniless 
wrong-doer,  but  what  about  the  rich 
tax-dodger,  the  big  law-breaker  and 
the  corrupter  of  government?  The 
soul  that  is  warmed  by  divine  fire  will 
be  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  the 
complete  performance  of  duty;  it 
must  cry  aloud  and  spare  not,  to  the 
end  that  the  creed  of  the  Christ  may 
be  exemplified  in  the  life  of  the 
nation. 

Not  only  does  the  soul  question 
present  itself  to  individuals,  but  it 
presents  itself  to  groups  of  individ- 
uals as  well. 

[61] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

Let  us  consider  the  party.  A  po- 
litical party  can  not  be  better  than 
its  ideal ;  in  fact,  it  is  good  in  propor- 
tion as  its  ideal  is  worthy,  and  its 
place  in  history  is  determined  by  its 
adherence  to  a  high  purpose.  The 
party  is  made  for  its  members,  not  the 
members  for  the  party;  and  a  party 
is  useful,  therefore,  only  as  it  is  a 
means  through  which  one  may  protect 
his  rights,  guard  his  interests  and 
promote  the  public  welfare.  The 
best  service  that  a  man  can  render  his 
party  is  to  raise  its  ideals.  He  basely 
betrays  his  party's  hopes  and  is  recre- 
ant to  his  duty  to  his  party  associates 
who  seeks  to  barter  away  a  noble 
party  purpose  for  temporary  advan- 
tages or  for  the  spoils  of  office.  It 
would  be  a  reflection  upon  the  intel- 
ligence and  patriotism  of  the  people 
to  assert,  or  even  to  assume,  that  last- 

[62] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

ing  benefit  could  be  secured  for  a 
party  by  the  lowering  of  its  stand- 
ards. He  serves  his  party  most  loy- 
ally who  serves  his  country  most 
faithfully;  it  is  a  fatal  error  to  sup- 
pose that  a  party  can  be  permanently 
benefited  by  a  betrayal  of  the  nation's 
interests. 

In  every  act  of  party  life  and  party 
strife  we  weigh  the  soul.  That  the 
people  have  a  right  to  have  what  they 
want  is  a  fundamental  principle  in 
free  government.  Corruption  in  gov- 
ernment comes  from  the  attempt  to 
substitute  the  will  of  a  minority  for 
the  will  of  the  majority.  Every 
measure  which  comes  up  for  consid- 
eration involves  justice  and  injustice 
— right  and  wrong — and  is,  there- 
fore, a  question  of  conscience.  As 
justice  is  the  basis  of  a  nation's 
strength  and  gives  it  hope  of  per- 

[63] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

petuity,  and,  as  the  seeds  of  decay 
are  sown  whenever  injustice  enters 
into  government,  patriotism  as  well 
as  conscience  leads  us  to  analyze 
every  public  question,  ascertain  the 
moral  principle  involved  and  then 
cast  our  influence,  whether  it  be  great 
or  small,  on  the  side  of  justice. 

The  patriot  must  desire  the  tri- 
umph of  that  which  is  right  above  the 
triumph  of  that  which  he  may  think 
to  be  right  if  he  is,  in  fact,  mistaken ; 
and  so  the  partizan,  if  he  be  an  in- 
telligent partizan,  must  be  prepared 
to  rejoice  in  his  party's  defeat  if  by 
that  defeat  his  country  is  the  gainer. 
One  can  afford  to  be  in  a  minority, 
but  he  can  not  afford  to  be  wrong;  if 
he  is  in  a  minority  and  right,  he  will 
some  day  be  in  the  majority. 

The  activities  of  politics  center 
about  the  election  of  candidates  to 

[64] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

office,  and  the  official,  under  our  sys- 
tem, represents  both  the  party  to 
which  he  belongs  and  the  whole  body 
of  his  constituency.  He  has  two 
temptations  to  withstand,  first,  the 
temptation  to  substitute  his  own 
judgment  for  the  judgment  of  his 
constituents,  and  second,  the  tempta- 
tion to  put  his  pecuniary  interests 
above  the  interests  of  those  for  whom 
he  acts.  According  to  the  aristocratic 
idea,  the  representative  thinks  for  his 
constituents;  according  to  the  demo- 
cratic idea,  the  representative  thinks 
with  his  constituents.  A  representa- 
tive has  no  right  to  defeat  the  wishes 
of  those  who  elect  him,  if  he  knows 
their  wishes. 

But  a  representative  is  not  liable  to 
knowingly  misrepresent  his  constitu- 
ents unless  he  has  pecuniary  interests 
adverse  to  theirs.    This  is  the  tempta- 
[65] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

tion  to  be  resisted — this  is  the  sin  to 
be  avoided.  The  official  who  uses  his 
position  to  secure  a  pecuniary  advan- 
tage at  the  expense  of  those  for  whom 
he  acts  is  an  embezzler  of  power — 
and  an  embezzler  of  power  is  as 
guilty  of  moral  turpitude  as  the  em- 
bezzler of  money.  There  is  no  better 
motto  for  the  public  official  than  that 
given  by  Solomon :  "A  good  name  is 
rather  to  be  chosen  than  great  riches, 
and  loving  favor  rather  than  silver 
and  gold/'  And  there  is  no  better 
rule  for  the  public  official  to  follow 
than  this — to  do  nothing  that  he 
would  not  be  willing  to  have  printed 
in  the  newspaper  next  day. 

One  who  exercises  authority  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  the  suffrages  of 
his  fellows  ought  to  be  fortified  in 
his  integrity  by  the  consciousness  of 
the  fact  that  a  betrayal  of  his  trust 

[66] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

is  hurtful  to  the  party  which  honors 
him  and  unjust  to  the  people  whom 
he  serves,  as  well  as  injurious  to  him- 
self. Nothing  that  he  can  gain,  not 
even  the  whole  world,  can  compen- 
sate him  for  the  loss  that  he  suffers  in 
the  surrender  of  a  high  ideal  of  pub- 
lic duty. 

Permit  me,  in  conclusion,  to  say 
that  the  nation,  as  well  as  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  party,  must  be  meas- 
ured by  its  purpose,  its  ideals  and  its 
service.  "Let  him  who  would  be 
chief est  among  you  be  the  servant 
of  all/'  was  intended  for  nations  as 
well  as  for  citizens.  Our  nation  is  the 
greatest  in  the  world  and  the  greatest 
of  all  time,  because  it  is  rendering  a 
larger  service  than  any  other  nation 
is  rendering  or  has  rendered.  It  is 
giving  the  world  ideals  in  education, 
in  social  life,  in  government  and  in 

[67] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

religion.  It  is  the  teacher  of  nations, 
it  is  the  world's  torch-bearer.  Here 
the  people  are  more  free  than  else- 
where to  "prove  all  things  and  hold 
fast  that  which  is  good";  "to  know 
the  truth"  and  to  find  freedom  in  that 
knowledge.  No  material  considera- 
tions should  blind  us  to  our  nation's 
mission,  or  turn  us  aside  from  the 
accomplishment  of  the  great  work 
which  has  been  reserved  for  us.  Our 
fields  bring  forth  abundantly  and  the 
products  of  our  farms  furnish  food 
for  many  in  the  Old  World.  Our 
mills  and  looms  supply  an  increasing 
export,  but  these  are  not  our  greatest 
asset.  Our  most  fertile  soil  is  to  be 
found  in  the  minds  and  the  hearts  of 
our  people,  and  our  most  important 
manufacturing  plants  are  not  our  fac- 
tories, with  their  smoking  chimneys, 
but  our  schools,  our  colleges  and  our 
[68] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

churches,  which  take  in  a  priceless 
raw  material  and  turn  out  the  most 
valuable  finished  product  that  the 
world  has  known. 

We  enjoy  by  inheritance,  or  by 
choice,  the  blessings  of  American 
citizenship;  let  us  not  be  unmindful 
of  the  obligations  which  these  bless- 
ings impose.  Let  us  not  become  so  oc- 
cupied in  the  struggle  for  wealth  or 
in  the  contest  for  honors  as  to  repu- 
diate the  debt  that  we  owe  to  those 
who  have  gone  before  us  and  to  those 
who  bear  with  us  the  responsibilities 
that  rest  upon  the  present  generation. 
Society  has  claims  upon  us ;  our  coun- 
try makes  demands  upon  our  time, 
our  thought  and  our  purpose.  We 
can  not  shirk  these  duties  without  dis- 
grace to  ourselves  and  injury  to  those 
who  come  after  us.  If  one  is  tempted 
to  complain  of  the  burdens  borne  by 

[69] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

American  citizens,  let  him  compare 
them  with  the  much  larger  burdens 
imposed  by  despots  upon  their  sub- 
jects. 

I  challenge  the  doctrine,  now  being 
taught,  that  we  must  enter  into  a  mad 
rivalry  with  the  Old  World  in  the 
building  of  battleships — the  doctrine 
that  the  only  way  to  preserve  peace  is 
to  get  ready  for  wars  that  ought  never 
to  come!  It  is  a  barbarous,  brutal, 
unchristian  doctrine — the  doctrine  of 
the  darkness,  not  the  doctrine  of  the 
dawn. 

Nation  after  nation,  when  at  the 
zenith  of  its  power,  has  proclaimed 
itself  invincible  because  its  army 
could  shake  the  earth  with  its  tread 
and  its  ships  could  fill  the  seas,  but 
these  nations  are  dead,  and  we  must 
build  upon  a  different  foundation  if 
we  would  avoid  their  fate. 

[70] 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

Carlyle,  in  the  closing  chapters  of 
his  "French  Revolution"  says  that 
thought  is  stronger  than  artillery 
parks  and  at  last  molds  the  world 
like  soft  clay,  and  then  he  adds  that 
back  of  thought  is  love.  Carlyle  is 
right.  Love  is  the  greatest  power  in 
fhe  world.  The  nations  that  are  dead 
boasted  that  their  flag  was  feared ;  let 
it  be  our  boast  that  our  flag  is  loved. 
The  nations  that  are  dead  boasted 
that  people  bowed  before  their  flag, 
let  us  not  be  content  until  our  flag  rep- 
resents sentiments  so  high  and  holy 
that  the  opprest  of  every  land  will 
turn  their  faces  toward  that  flag  and 
thank  God  that  there  is  one  flag  that 
stands  for  self-government  and  for 
the  rights  of  man. 

The  enlightened  conscience  of  our 
nation  should  proclaim  as  the  coun- 
try's creed  that  "righteousness  ex- 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 

alteth  a  nation"  and  that  justice  is  a 
nation's  surest  defense.  If  there  ever 
was  a  nation  it  is  ours — if  there  ever 
was  a  time  it  is  now — to  put  God's 
truth  to  the  test.  With  an  ocean  roll- 
ing on  either  side  and  a  mountain 
range  along  either  coast  that  all  the 
armies  of  the  world  could  never  climb 
we  ought  not  to  be  afraid  to  trust  in 
"the  wisdom  of  doing  right." 

Our  government,  conceived  in  lib- 
erty and  purchased  with  blood,  can 
be  preserved  only  by  constant  vigi- 
lance. May  we  guard  it  as  our  chil- 
dren's richest  legacy,  for  what  shall 
it  profit  our  nation  if  it  shall  gain  the 
whole  world  and  lose  "the  spirit  that 
prizes  liberty  as  the  heritage  of  all 
men  in  all  lands  everywhere"  ? 


[72] 


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